LEWISTON — There’s no place like home for Cameron Morin.
The Scarborough sophomore forward, who grew up in Lewiston, tallied a hat trick in his return to The Colisee in a 6-2 victory over Lewiston on Friday afternoon.
“I love this rink; I grew up playing here and it was nice to be back,” Morin said. “I felt it; it felt like I was home. It’s just nice to be back. I am glad we could pull away with the (win).”
Morin and his family moved to Scarborough before the school year started.
It didn’t take long for the Red Storm (4-0) to strike, as forward Tyler Kenney’s shot from the right circle rang the right post. The puck squirted out to the slot and Morin put home the rebound 66 seconds into the contest.
Kenney also has a Lewiston connection, as he played for the Maine Nordiques Academy last season.
Nearly seven minutes into the first period, Lewiston’s Ethan Blue got called for a five-minute major for boarding. Scarborough capitalized when senior forward Billy Mahoney swept the puck past Lewiston goalie Ben Cloutier (21 saves) in the slot 7:44 into the stanza.
Red Storm coach Eric Wirsing said the power play played a big part in the win, while causing problems for the Blue Devils.
“We got the power play there and were able to get a couple of goals and that gave us a lot of energy in that first period,” Wirsing said. “I felt like we had pretty good speed and forced them to do some things to get them out of what they do in their regular game plan.”
The Red Storm were 4 for 8 on the man advantage. Lewiston went 1 of 3.
It was the last goal Cloutier allowed in the first period as the senior got peppered with 14 shots.
Lewiston’s offense couldn’t generate much once it got in the offensive zone in the first period. The Blue Devils only put one shot on goal.
That changed in the second period when Lewiston (2-3) started the stanza on the power play, as Scarborough was assessed a bench minor for coming on the ice too late.
Just 54 seconds into the power play, Scarborough’s Kyle Gambardella received an interference penalty and the Blue Devils held a two-man advantage. Lewiston struck when Scarborough goalie Keegan Weed (18 saves) kicked an Ethan Blue shot right to Luke Pomerleau in the right circle. Pomerleau fired the puck into the half-open net 1:35 into the second period to get Lewiston on the scoreboard.
“We told the guys to get pucks to the net and see what happens,” Lewiston coach Jamie King said. “Get your sticks down on the ice for the rebounds and Luke was right there.”
Wirsing said it was his fault the team came out late for the second period.
“It was a learning mistake as a staff and we addressed it. Hopefully, that shouldn’t happen again,” Wirsing added.
The Blue Devils couldn’t score in the remaining time on Gambardella’s penalty but had four shots combined during the overlapping man-advantages. Lewiston recorded 13 shots in the second period, while Scarborough totaled six shots in the frame.
Morin scored his second goal of the game right after a Red Storm power play expired when he deflected a Kyle Hassett shot from the slot past Cloutier nearly 6:30 minutes into the middle frame.
Jordan Sheppard scored from the slot on the power play 6:22 into the third period, extending the Red Storm’s lead to 4-1. Mahoney and Hassett notched the assists.
Wirsing said the Red Storm need depth to get wins.
“That’s what we really need to be successful,” Wirsing said. “We don’t necessarily have a standout that will put up 30 or 40 points, but we have some guys and depth to really help us out. If we are getting scoring from all three lines and the power play, we are in good shape.”
Two minutes after the goal, Ethan Blue was whistled for his second five-minute major, for contact to the head, and was ejected from the game.
“He’s a big player for us, and to take a penalty like that and getting tossed hurt us a lot,” King said. “Every time they got a penalty, it was a matching penalty. So, it didn’t give us an opportunity to work our power play. They are a good skating team and they are really competitive.”
Morin completed his hat trick just past the 10-minute mark of the third. Griffin Densbow stretched the lead to 6-1 at the 11:24 mark. Both goals were on the power play.
Morin was more focused on getting the victory than the hat trick.
“I didn’t think about the third one because I want to win as a team,” Morin said. “I don’t care about my personal stats and what I do personally. I just want the team to win, and whatever I can do to help them is what I like to do.”
Jacoby Oliveria added Lewiston’s second goal late in the third period.
Each team recorded six shots in the third period.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
